Swinhoe’s Snipe

Scientific Name: Gallinago megala
Malay Name: Berkik Siberia Selatan
Chinese Name: 大沙锥

Range:
Breeds in south-central Siberia and northern Mongolia; a separate disjunct population breeds in Ussuriland, in the Russian far east. Winters in parts of southern and eastern China, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, and northern Australia.

Taxonomy:
Monotypic.

Size: 27-29 cm

Identification:
The rarest of three Gallinago snipes in Singapore, but possibly overlooked due to difficulty in separation from Pin-tailed. From Common Snipe, most obviously differentiated by a lack of clear white trailing edge to the secondaries, shorter bill and larger-headed appearance (see that species for more differences). Apart from a series of overlapping and weakly defined separation features, only truly differentiable from Pin-tailed Snipe with a clear view of the spread tail (or measurements in the hand). On this species, only the outermost pair of tail feathers are narrow (varying from 2 to 4 mm wide), while the rest gradually increase in width towards the central feathers (giving the impression of at least two intermediate-width tail feathers outside the central few, while Pin-tailed shows one intermediate-width feather between the central tail feathers and the six to nine pin-like feathers on the outertail).

Similar looking species: Pin-tailed Snipe, Common Snipe

Habitat: Damp grasslands, edges of waterbodies, and muddy freshwater marshes.

Behaviour/Ecology: Flushed Swinhoe's Snipes are often silent. A snipe that is silent when flushed is more likely Swinhoe's than Pin-tailed, but this is only suggestive. Vocal differences between the two species are poorly understood and more study may reveal that differentiation by flight calls is possible.

Local Status: Rare migrant

Conservation Status: Least Concern (BirdLife International 2016)

Featured articles:

• Bird List Revision for May 2019 (Revisions)

Past accepted records in our database:

Migrant bar chart (see more bar charts):

Swinhoe’s Snipe at Derby Wetlands, Derby, Western Australia. Photo Credit: Eric Tan

Swinhoe’s Snipe at Derby Wetlands, Derby, Western Australia. Photo Credit: Eric Tan